The PACE resolution 1620 adopted at the PACE summer session on June 25 (which can be the last one for Armenia if the Armenian government does not meet the requirements of that resolution) will not replace the 1609 resolution adopted on April 17 and the requirements of both documents are valid.
Such announcement was made by the head of the Armenian delegation to the PACE Davit Harutyunyan. The deadline defined by the PACE for Armenia is January but before that in September the monitoring commission of that institution will hear the human rights assignee’s report on criminal persecutions and arrested people in Armenia, as well as the report on the performance of the ad hoc commission in charge of investigating the events of March 1. However Davit Harutyunyan says that after the report of the human rights assignee it is possible that the Monitoring commission may adopt certain decisions during a session on September 11. Thus, it does not mean that the Armenian government has time till January to perform the requirements of the resolution. The latter says that it is not excluded that the issue of Armenia may be discussed during the October session of the PACE as well.
Resolution 1620 calls on the Armenian government to revise the law on rallies, assemblies and demonstrations in a duly manner and “it is due to specific attention the place of conducting rallies and there shouldn’t be unjustified limitations on places of rallies.” Despite this fact the city administration office refuses the opposition’s petition to conduct their rallies in the surrounding areas of the Opera House or the Matenadaran and offers the stadium area (for June 20 rally the Hrazdan stadium and for July 4 the stadium after Vazgen Sargsyan). Answering to question whether the municipality’s decisions were not unjustified limitations the head of the Armenian delegation to the PACE said, “I think that you should pay attention to the PACE requirements and in order to make the requirements of the resolution clear I advise everyone, including the city municipality, to follow the explanation memo”, which is attached to the resolution.”
Concerning the provision of the resolution, according to which the PACE, in consideration of the political situation, the lack of credibility in the Armenian society, petitions to perform good faith and take actions to stop the criminal persecutions as much as possible by using the available legal mechanisms such as amnesty or suspension of persecution, Davit Harutyunyan says that it is not so much a legal action than a political one. To note, in the draft resolution the Armenian government was petitioned to limit the criminal cases with mere crimes and violence, but later it was revised by the PACE based on the recommendations of the delegates. “As a result of the discussions we came to the conclusion that it concerns also people who have ordered, stimulated or supported the violence. According to the article 38 of our criminal code, the organizers should bear responsibility as well, but it was recommended to replace the word “organizer” with “people who have ordered to do violence” because the Armenian legislation does not have the correct definition of that word,” says Davit Harutyunyan.
A couple of days ago first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan said that the members of our delegation to the PACE are misleading and cheating the Europeans. In answer to this statement Davit Harutyunyan said that they deal with serious politicians in the PACE and it is naïve to think that such politicians with professional background may be cheated. “They are very objective people and they don’t need to seem better for either of the parties,” said Davit Harutyunyan. He especially means George Colombier and John Prescott (the first president means them too). Member of the delegation, PA member Avet Adonts says that it is cynical on part of some opposition activists to say that the weakened requirements in the PACE resolution 1620 is a result of “trade” between the Armenian delegation and EU and that Armenia has agreed not to be against the resolutions to be adopted on Karabakh. To note, the report on Azerbaijan reads that it is hard to expect stabile development of democracy in Azerbaijan as long as its territorial integrity has not been recovered. “It is not the loss of the Armenian delegation but the loss of the EU because connecting democratic processes in a country with certain factors does not fit with the rules and the environment which have been adopted by the EU,” said the head of the NA commission on EU affairs Avet Adonts. In answer to question why the Armenian delegation did not vote against that document during the PACE monitoring commission session in Kiev in May Davit Harutyunyan said that they expressed verbal disagreement during the first phase and then agreed with the draft in order to be able to present written disagreements during the second phase. According to Davit Harutyunyan, they have been able to change a word in it, which is that in the sentence writing that “it is impossible to develop democratic institutions in Azerbaijan without recovering territorial integrity” they have replaced the word “impossible” with “it is hard to expect that…”